Two (2) American School Western landscape paintings. 1st item: Nile Jurgen Behncke (Wisconsin, 1894-1954) watercolor landscape painting depicting a mesa whose right side is bathed in sunlight having shaded hills leading to a lake's edge in the mid-ground, sparsely leaved trees on the opposite bank in the foreground, and distant mountains in the background all beneath a cloud-filled blue sky. Signed "Nile Behncke" lower left. Housed and matted under glass in a wooden frame. Sight: 16 5/8" H x 21 3/4" W. Framed: 27 1/4" H x 31 3/4" W. 2nd item: E. Todd Wheeler (Illinois, 1906-1987) oil on canvas monochromatic landscape painting, titled "Grand Canyon", depicting the serpentine chasm flanked by blue mountains under a clear sky. Signed "E. T. W." lower right. Inscription with title, artist name, and date "1933" along with Mag. Associates sticker label, en verso. Housed in a modern giltwood frame. Sight: 15 3/8" H x 18 1/2" H. Framed: 18 5/8" H x 21 3/4" W. Note: E. Todd Wheeler was a prominent Chicago architect specializing in the design of hospitals and medical schools and a graduate of the University of Illinois. Between 1932-1933, due to the lack of work during the Depression, Wheeler served as a companion and painting pupil to his grandfather-in-law, Dwight H. Perkins, a preeminent Chicago architect of the era. The two, along with a few others, traveled to California for three months of landscape painting, including camping in Death Valley for three weeks. Wheeler served as the associate architect for his alma mater from 1942-1944. He was also the acting state architect from 1951-1952. (source: "Interview with E. Todd Wheeler", interviewed by Betty J. Blum for the Chicago Architects Oral History Project, published by the Art Institute of Chicago, 1995.)
The Estate of Carl Klein, Brentwood, Tennessee.
Condition
1st item: Overall very good condition. 2nd item: Overall good condition with minute scattered exfoliation at the left and lower edge and lower right corner. Canvas has been affixed to board.